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New Delhi: On Thursday, The Delhi High Court refused to grant any interim protection in connection to the Enforcement Directorate summonses issued to him in the Delhi excise policy case from coercive action to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal . However, the court sought a response from ED on this fresh interim plea and listed the matter for April 22, 2024.
A bench of Justices Suresh Kumar Kait and Manoj Jain said,”We have heard both sides, and we are not inclined at this stage to grant protection. The respondent is at liberty to file a reply.” He has repeatedly refused to appear before the agency, calling the summonses illegal.
Earlier today,CM Arvind Kejriwal filed a fresh plea, demanding assurance from the Enforcement Directorate that no arrest would be made if he complied with the multiple summons. The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) chief said in his petition to the court,”The Enforcement Directorate should give assurance before the court that it will take no coercive action against me if I comply with the summons.”
Arvind Kejriwal had moved the court in the wake of the latest summons, the ninth issued by the ED, asking him to appear before it on Thursday. The Delhi Chief Minister has repeatedly refused to appear before the probe agency, calling the summons illegal.
In the petition, Kejriwal has said the arbitrary procedure under PMLA was being employed to create a non-level playing field for the upcoming general elections to “skew the electoral process in the favour of the ruling party at the Centre”. Meanwhile, the Enforcement Directorate had filed two complaints before the Rouse Avenue Court, seeking Kejriwal’s prosecution for skipping multiple summonses issued to him in the case.
The case pertains to alleged corruption and money laundering while formulating and executing the Delhi government’s excise policy for 2021-22, which was later scrapped. AAP leaders Manish Sisodia and Sanjay Singh are in judicial custody in the case.
